Sully Prudhomme

René-François-Armand "Sully" Prudhomme (French: René-François-Armand "Sully" Prudhomme, French pronunciation: [syli pʁydɔm]; March 16, 1839 – September 6, 1907) was a French poet and the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Prudhomme studied science in his early years and later turned to literature. His debut work was the collection of poems "Festivals and Poems" which he published at his own expense in 1865. From the titles of "Life", "Women", "Youth" and "Others" in the collection of poems, one can imagine the theme of Prudhomme's poetry: the pursuit of life, ideals, love, youth and the love for hometown, motherland and people. Some of the poems also reveal the author's dissatisfaction and worries about social reality. The publication of his debut work made Prudhomme famous in the country, so he simply resigned from his position as a lawyer and devoted himself to writing, becoming one of the most influential poets in France in the late nineteenth century. He has successively published collections of lyric poems "Loneliness" and "Waste of Tenderness" and collections of philosophical poems "Destiny", "Justice" and "Happiness". The former uses delicate and implicit brushstrokes and elegant and exquisite forms to chant objects and scenery, expressing personal sentiments that are not without sadness. Philosophical poetry is dedicated to exploring the contradiction between human consciousness and modern society, and seeking the connotation of justice and happiness. In his philosophical poems, Prudhomme concentrated on the content of scientific evolution and reflected the pursuit of noble morality. Due to Prudhomme's poetic creation and various literary achievements, he became an academician of the French Academy in 1881. In 1901, he won the first Nobel Prize for Literature.